Stocks are flat despite weak jobs report

Updated: 3:24 p.m. ET

Theoretically, a report showing the U.S. national unemployment rate hitting 10.2% would just kill stocks.

In fact, there were worries that the bad jobs report today would turn Thursday's rally into a one-day wonder.

The jobs report was bad; the details suggested it was worse than the headline numbers indicate. But stocks have held their own. 

Even when gold hit $1,100 an ounce for the first time. Gold later fell and settled at $1,095.70 an ounce. But that was still a 0.8% gain for the day and a 5.3% gain for the week. Mining and metals stocks were higher.

At 3:10 p.m. ET, the  Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) were off 8 points to 9,998. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) had gained 2 points to 2,108, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) was flat at 1,066.

While gold was higher, the jobs report hit crude oil, which fell 3.1% to $77.12, and energy shares were lower.

So were financial stocks, weighed down by another huge loss for Fannie Mae (FNM) and disappointment in results for American International Group (AIG).

Fannie Mae was off 6.7% to $1.04. AIG was down 9.7% to $35.46.

But health care stocks were largerly higher. CNBC's Bob Pisani said traders are betting that a vote on healthcare legislation this weekend will come up short.

Meanwhile, airline shares were higher; the top six performers in the Dow Jones Transportation Index were airlines -- and package shipper FedEx (FDX). All moved higher on crude's decline.

And investors were delighted by two upgrades for General Electric (GE), which pushed its shares up 6.2% to $15.33.

They also cheered improving results for Starbucks (SBUX), up 7.2% to $21.11, and graphics chip maker NVIDIA (NVDA), up 6.5% to $13.07.

A Starbucks close above $21 would be its best in nearly two years.  

Only 12 of the 30 Dow stocks was higher today. The index was held up in large part by Travelers Companies (TRV), GE and IBM (IBM).

At the same time, only 228 S&P 500 stocks were higher, along with 57 stocks in the Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX.X).

Another 190,000 job losses

The economy shed 190,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department said in its monthly report, more than the expected loss of 175,000 jobs. October was the 22nd consecutive month of job losses.

The jobless rate jumped to 10.2% last month from 9.8% in September -- the highest rate since April 1983. Economists had estimated a jobless rate of 9.9%.

• What comes after 10% unemployment?

A total of 7.3 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007 -- one of every 20 private-sector positions.

• Read more about the jobs report

One glimmer of hope was that payrolls in August and September were revised higher by 91,000 jobs.

"Historically, revisions to past data have moved in the direction of changes in overall trends, so up revisions to the recent past suggest stronger conditions are developing," David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities, wrote in a research note. "The details reinforced the impression that the job loss pace is slowing."

But Philippe Dunne and Doug Henwood of the Liscio Report noted that the average workweek continued to run at a historically low 33 hours. Workers remain without jobs for a median of 18.7 weeks and an average 26.9 weeks.

An unemployed person in September had a 19.2% chance of finding a job in October, an all-time low, they noted.

Some good news: Average wages were up slightly. Temporary employment showed an uptick, and retailers seemed to need workers.

Gold tops $1,100 an ounce

Gold briefly crossed above $1,100 an ounce this morning before pulling back to just under $1,096. Gold has been surging as the U.S. dollar has fallen and as investors look to protect themselves against inflation.

"We believe the rally in gold prices will continue," Michael Lewis, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a report today. "Further advances in the gold price will be based on fresh lows in the U.S. dollar, central bank buying of gold (and) increasing inflation volatility."

Newmont Mining (NEM) was up 3.8% to $49.05. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) was down 0.2% to $79.34.

GE gets two upgrades

General Electric shares jumped after Oppenheimer & Co. upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "perform."

Analysts noted "that consumer finance's delinquencies and non-earnings have recently shown meaningful signs of stabilization and flattening out."

GE was also upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform" at Sanford C. Bernstein.

Elizabeth Strott contributed to this report.